After reading scores of commencement addresses and to mark the milestone of the 100th speech on this website, I set out to summarize the 15 key rules for a happy and successful life as found in these inspirational speeches. What I realized is that we all have heard about these themes before. It's likely that you too can easily recite the things that really matter in life and what can potentially, increase one's chances of success. The spectacular thing in this list is that each one of these 15 life lessons is illustrated with stunning methaphors and witty analogies to bring the advice to life and away from the otherwise sleep-inducing commencement platitudes.

If you need to prepare a commencement speech or any other speech where you are expected to share advice, these 15 topics should be a great start. You might pick anywhere between three to five of them and, to make them more powerful, you might choose to use personal stories or anecdotes.

I do not want you to infer that writing a commencement address is an easy task. It is not, and in fact, that's one of the reasons why we end up describing most of the graduation speeches as being boring. But, like with anything else in life, if you put in the time and effort, if you set your mind to it and let your heart speak, if you access your enthusiasm well, and edit, and edit again, you too can create an amazing graduation speech!

Whatever blocks you encounter, you have learned that there is a way over, around or through them. It is not those obstacles that inhibit your progress but your confidence, and will to break the inertia of fear and doubt. - Smith

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. - Steve Jobs

Take action. Every story you've ever connected with, every leader you've ever admired, every puny little thing that you've ever accomplished is the result of taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life. - Whitford

Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory. Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. It is not the previously known. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. - Alda

One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. - J.K. Rowling